This weekend, Digg founder Kevin Rose added fuel to the iPad 2 rumor mill fire, claiming an introduction of the tablet is coming within a month.

Says Rose:

I have it on good authority that Apple will be announcing the iPad 2 in the next '3-4 weeks,' possibly Tuesday February 1st. The iPad 2 will feature a retina display and front/back camera. If you're thinking of buying an iPad, hold off for now.

Outside of the Retina Display and dual-cameras, other oft-posted rumors include the addition of a USB port, a larger, improved speaker and slimmer form factor.

From the retail side, Apple has kept most of its overstaffed holiday personnel employed, and limited vacation time for a three-week period from the end of January into February for all staff. Vacation time is always limited when a large product launch is in store, such as an updated iPhone.

Apple had been expected to begin selling the iPad 2 in April, a year after the launch of the first generation tablet.

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Although it is not even official yet, AT&T PR head Larry Solomon took a shot at Verizon's upcoming iPhone.

Apple and Verizon are expected to unveil the CDMA version of the device on Tuesday, with sales starting in earl February.

Said Solomon: "The iPhone is built for speed, but that's not what you get with a CDMA phone. I'm not sure iPhone users are ready for life in the slow lane."

The claim is that AT&T's GSM technology is faster than Verizon's CDMA tech.

AT&T has been the exclusive American carrier for the iPhone since its inception in 2007. Analysts have warned that losing the exclusivity pact, and the strong growth driver that is the iPhone, may affect the company's bottom line for some time. Other analysts have warned that frustrated AT&T iPhone owners may jump ship to Verizon, who is known to have the most reliable network of the major carriers.

It appears the carrier has fired the first shot in what will almost certainly be a "war" for iPhone customers.

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Although unconfirmed by both companies, Apple is expected to unveil a CDMA version of the iPhone on Tuesday, to be available on Verizon in the U.S.

Verizon is the largest carrier in the nation, ahead of rival AT&T, the current exclusive carrier of the Apple smartphone.

All reports claim that the device will be introduced this week, but go on sale in early February.

If accurate, a new WSJ report says Verizon will offer all iPhone purchasers an unlimited data plan option, which AT&T has removed for new owners.

Unlimited plans will sell for $30 a month, while AT&T offers, at most, 2GB per month for $25.

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Yesterday, we reported that Apple had pulled the popular VLC media player application from the iOS App Store, following an argument over the GPL with VLC developer Rémi Denis-Courmont.

Denis-Courmont had filed a lawsuit against Apple in late 2010.

Under a standard GNU General Public License (GPL), VLC is available for Macs, Windows and Linux machines for free, and while it was free for iOS, the open-source nature of the application was compromised by Apple, since all apps in the iOS App Store must be signed by Apple and given DRM.

Today, popular jailbreak developer Ryan Petrich has added the app to his Cydia repository.

Cydia is the completely open app market available to users who have jailbroken their iOS devices.

Says Petrich of the app: "It was pulled from the App Store and deserves a new home in Cydia."

IDB gives instructions on how to install:

To install VLC in Cydia, open Cydia and tap "Manage." From here, tap "Sources, then "Edit," then "Add." Now you will be prompted with an entry field for your new source. Add "http://rpetri.ch/repo" and click "Add Source." Cydia will then verify the source.

Once you've done that, head over to "Search" in Cydia and search for "VLC media player." You can then install Applidium's app for free.

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Just days after releasing the root key for the PlayStation 3, opening up the console to homebrew, custom firmwares and more, Geohot has released a jailbreak for firmware version 3.55.

Says Geohot:

i do not condone piracy

it's jailbreak time
open the zip, you know how to install
3.55 only
would be pirates, don't waste your time
do not mirror file, link to geohot.com
no donations accepted right now, don't get scammed

homebrew signing source
make_self_npdrm makes valid NPDRM selfs from elfs
it does not contain any info on decrypting or removing NPDRM
NPDRM is required for interoperability of our homebrew applications
package_finalize turns your debug packages into psuedoretail packages
psuedoretail packages install on a geohot jailbroken PS3

i'm excited to see what you will create
open source SDK @ PSL1GHT

While Geohot does not believe in piracy, it seems only a matter of time until an updated version of OpenManager or other homebrew is made available for jailbroken PS3s running 3.55.

In fact, some advanced users have found ways to play games without an updated backup manager. For more info on that, check here: Game Backups on 3.55

Sony, as been standard, will likely update the firmware to to 3.56 or higher now, blocking the jailbreak.

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One day after the Wall Street Journal reported that a Verizon iPhone 4 was coming on Tuesday, sources speaking to Reuters have confirmed the claims.

Sales of the device are expected to launch in early February.

As with all prior reports, Apple and Verizon have not commented on the "speculation."

AT&T has been the exclusive American carrier for the iPhone since its inception in 2007. Analysts have warned that losing the exclusivity pact, and the strong growth driver that is the iPhone, may affect the company's bottom line for some time. Other analysts have warned that frustrated AT&T iPhone owners may jump ship to Verizon, who is known to have the most reliable network of the major carriers.

On the other hand, analysts also claim that a majority of AT&T's iPhone owners are part of family plans, which are much harder to cancel as they involve, on average, three family members.

Furthermore, many are new upgraders or purchasers, and AT&T charges very heavy early termination fees.

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DigitalTrends managed to get a really nice 9-minute video from a Motorola executive who was showing off the Motorola Atrix smartphone; which doubles as a full notebook computer.

The Atrix runs Android 2.2 on a powerful Nvidia Tegra 2 1GHz AP20H dual-core processor, alongside 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal memory, a huge 1930 mAh battery, and a 4-inch multi-touch screen with Gorilla Glass.

Additionally, the smartphone has a 5MP standard camera and a VGA front-side camera and AT&T 4G LTE support.

Unique to the device is a biometric fingerprint reader, which can be used to literally block anyone who isn't you from turning on the device.

The notebook (Atrix dock) is incredibly thin and has a stated 10-hour battery life.

When connected, the notebook runs off the Atrix phone, allowing owners to use a Linux-based OS, or just run the phone's features in full-screen (15-inch) mode.

For anyone interested, the video is a bit long, but very comprehensive. The whole design is very innovative.

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